why not? I’d argue literature is like societies diary…the word choice reflects mood and general themes…if nature words aren’t being used as much as they used to be, I can’t think of another reason other than that the general mood toward nature has shifted from connection to disconnection. can you? and writers/artists are often a populations most likely to be connected to nature, so seeing a huge decline in this field over the last 220 years is as significant a sign as any, imho